Infographıc - Assad Regime Steps Ups Attacks İn Syria's Idlib

By Burak Karacaoglu, Esref Musa and Levent Tok



IDLIB, Syria (AA) - Forces loyal to the Assad regime have continued fighting in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, carrying out attacks near the opposition-held Abu al-Duhur airport.



On Wednesday, regime forces -- supported by Russia and Iran -- stood only one kilometer from the strategic airport.



According to an Anadolu Agency reporter based nearby, regime forces later withdrew to some three kilometers from the airport amid fierce counter attacks by opposition forces and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an armed anti-regime group.



Regime forces are said to have suffered heavy losses in the fighting, which reportedly remains ongoing.





-Moderate opposition



During peace talks held under Turkish, Russian and Iranian auspices late last month in Astana, opposition delegates said the Assad regime and the Daesh terrorist group were carrying out coordinated attacks on opposition positions.

Turkish officials have consistently said that Assad regime forces were targeting Syria's moderate opposition on the pretext of fighting terrorist groups.



Over the past three weeks, regime attacks have left at least 95 civilians dead -- and scores more injured -- in Syria's northern Idlib province, according to the White Helmets civil-defense agency.



Earlier this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on both Iran and Russia to fulfill their roles as "guarantors" of Syria's stumbling political process.



Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.



Hundreds of thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held parts of the country.



Over the course of the years-long conflict, the Assad regime was repeatedly accused of targeting civilian populations with chemical weapons. -